Chapter Three: Collision
505 Words
Chapter Three: Collision
Royce POV
The bonfire roared in the center of the clearing, its flames licking high into the night sky. Laughter and music filled the air, wolves from all over the region drinking, dancing, and indulging in the rare chance to mingle outside of their own territories.
Royce remained near the outskirts, her back against the rough bark of a tree, wooden cup cool in her grip. The heat of the fire didn’t reach her here, but that was how she liked it. The chaotic energy of the celebration wasn’t for her.
She didn’t come here to find a mate.
She had no interest in the hopeful glances cast her way, in the subtle brushes of fingers and lingering scents as unmated wolves tested their compatibility.
None of it mattered.
She refused to let fate dictate her future.
But then, the scent hit her.
It cut through the thick air like a blade, deep and intoxicating. Wild cedar and fresh rain.
A jolt shot through her body, sharp enough to make her fingers tremble. Her wolf surged to the surface so fast it nearly knocked her breath from her lungs. The world around her faded, voices and music dulling into nothing as every fiber of her being honed in on the presence that had just stepped into the clearing.
Her mate.
Her head snapped up, and the moment her gaze locked onto his, the earth beneath her might as well have cracked open.
Rowen.
He stood just beyond the bonfire’s glow, broad and imposing, his sharp gaze pinned directly on her. His dark hair was slightly tousled from the ride, his jaw shadowed in the perpetual scruff that made him look even more rugged. His stance was tense, muscles coiled beneath his dark clothing, as if he, too, was fighting something primal.
The moment stretched between them, charged and unbreakable.
Royce felt her heartbeat thunder in her ears.
No.
Not him.
Her wolf didn’t care. It howled, clawed at her, desperate to close the distance between them.
Rowen inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring, as if breathing her in. His brows pulled together, his sharp eyes flickering with something almost… violent.
Mate.
The word echoed in her skull, undeniable. Unforgiving.
Royce clenched her jaw, gripping the cup so tightly she thought it might shatter. This was wrong. He was Crimson Fang’s Alpha. Her pack’s sworn rival.
She couldn’t want this.
But she did.
And that terrified her.
Rowen moved first, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. Royce’s breath caught in her chest.
Her entire body screamed at her to go to him, to close the aching distance between them, to feel the heat of his skin against hers. To feel his soft lips against her lips. To feel his muscular body beneath hers.
But she couldn’t.
Instead, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Fast. Faster than she thought was possible.
Like the hounds of hell were on her heels.
Because in a way, they were.
And one of them had just found her.
- Writer
